Customer Reviews

The Other Side of the Mirror: Bob Dylan Live at Newport Folk Festival 1963-1965

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4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(2)
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An absolutely essential addition to any Dylan aficionado's collection, since the majority of this footage is never-before-seen. The Love Minus Zero and Talkin' World War III Blues performances seen here in particular are spine-chilling.

However, since this film was for big-time Dylan fans, some of the edits are inexplicable. Some intros are left out, but there's a more serious drawback. It includes two versions of Mr. Tambourine Man: one from 1964, before the song was released, as performed during the afternoon workshop, and the other from 1965, after the infamous electric set performed in the evening. NONE of them are complete. The first is missing the third verse, while the fourth is missing the first harmonica break and the last verse. I know the producer has his reasons, like artistic integrity, but c'mon, they know who the audience for this DVD is...

Also, why couldn't the missing songs from Newport 1963 and 1964 be seen, at least via bonus tracks, in case they were worried about too much song duplication in the film itself?

But it's still an excellent time capsule and one of the best music DVD's of the year, if not the last few. The sharp criticisms are only because how important this DVD is.

This disc has been hyped for the famous "booing" when he went electric. My take after watching, is buy it for the first 5 songs from the 1963 section. Even though these tracks are acoustic, Dylan really showed his incredible songwriting talent. That footage will go down in history. The 1964 stuff is a step down (last 2 songs are pretty good) The famous 1965 stuff is over-rated. The jangly "Maggie's farm", is alright, but seems a little tense. "Like A Rolling Stone", is virtually flawless. Why anyone would boo that version, is beyond me. The last song, "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" is incredible(Crank this one up). This disc is beyond historic.

I've had an audio bootleg of the 1965 set for years but to see Bob Dylan with Mike Bloomfield from The Butterfield Blues Band at his early peak, the rhythm section from Howlin' Wolf's band, bassist Jerome Arnold (Billy Boy Arnold's brother) and the amazing Sam Lay (ever hear his double shuffle? the drums he played are at the Experience Music Project archives in Seattle WA -- I saw them) and organists Barry Goldberg and Al Kooper is amazing. Only The Band could meet that high standard later that year when they joined Dylan at the Hollywood Bowl. Who ever thought that this footage existed? The hint was when some of it showed up when Festival and No Direction Home was released this past year. That still begs the question of the film of the English tour that next Fall which showed up only in clips in No Direction Home. The two World Tour releases are not the official films; Murray Lerner must have those. Apparently he shot the Fall 1965 electic/acoustic tour while D. A. Pennebaker shot the Don't Look Back Spring 1965 tour if I am right. The logical thing, now, is to release that footage with The Band minus Levon Helm plus Micky Waller on drums. Did someone film the Carnegie Hall Concert? Anyway, it's classic music that changed the world.

I'm not a big Bob Dylan fan, but I am a fan of great looking and sounding DVD's and this is both. There's no DTS but man, the sound is crystal clear. The video quality is amazing too. It's black and white but it doesn't look grainy. You clearly see a young Dylan playing his music the way it was meant to be played. This movie is a perfect trip down memory lane even if you were too young to remember it. If you're a Dylan fan, I promise you will love this. Its destined to become a classic.

There is no artist in rock history as analyzed as Bob Dylan. And to all the Dylanologists of the world, this grail-like DVD encapsulates the incredible, fascinating growth of Dylan from Guthrie-esque folk singer to rock star god. It's hard to believe that the Bobby Dylan of 1963 is the same (very) young man of 1965...so great is the change!

In this study of Dylan at three consecutive Newport folk festivals, we get a wealth of high-quality footage and audio showing Dylan (and Cash and Baez) at workshops and on-stage. We see his quiet humor of 1963 turn to defiant ambivalence by 1965. We get a sense of how much this man meant to this festival at this time, and in the final "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" we see a performer ready to break free and move on--regardless of whether or not others are ready to let him go. In a sense, even the B&W footage is part of the "vibe". The Dylan of Year 1 really belongs to a black & white world...it all seems right. The Dylan of 1965 begs for color, which he got soon after this performance in the still-unreleased "Eat The Document".

Long-time fans or newcomers to Dylan will find plenty to enjoy here, and there are some performances that will be returned to again and again (and again). At a time when we are being offered some very unnecessary packages ("Dylan" 3-cd set, anyone?), this is a treasure that I hope doesn't fall through the cracks. Buy it. It's worth 10x what you'll pay.

This is a fascinating document of Bob Dylan's transition from a buzzworthy newcomer to a genuine American icon. Without ornamentation or comment, this disc presents Dylan's impact on the fabled Newport Folk Festival in three pivotal years, 1963-65. In the early sequences, Dylan sits amid bluegrass and folk legends such as Doc Watson and Pete Seeger, a skinny kid paying his dues, earnestly singing his self-penned emulations of Woody Guthrie's talking blues style. There's something in the air, though, an electric charge to his aura that makes him stand out amid the studious folk-scene crowd. In the '64 festival, Dylan is more of a hovering presence, with numerous artists (Joan Baez, Johnny Cash) covering his material and calling him up on stage. There are episodic clips of Dylan and Baez making googly eyes at one another, and a momentary glimpse of the folk scene's equivalent of Beatles-mania, with Baez interviewed inside a car that drives past a gaggle of adoring fans, making light of her own celebrity.

It's in 1965 that Dylan really emerges as a superstar -- the year before, there was a growing sense that he had outgrown the insularity and strictures of the overly-earnest folk scene, but in '65, when he strapped on an electric guitar and cranked up the volume, it was a clear declaration of independence, one that was met with a predictable mix of condemnation, exhilaration and adoration. This rift really didn't concern Dylan -- he'd made up his mind which direction he was flying in -- but the moment is still charged with drama and power, and Dylan's personal charisma had shot off the charts. Even in these oft-times choppy old film clips, he sizzles the very air around him, leaping out off the screen with his puckish, brooding persona metamorphosing moment by moment, an artist who was fully alive and changing the culture around him.

The no-frills presentation is particularly useful -- there are separate commentary tracks, but the main film offers no narration, so you, as the viewer, are free to see and interpret the events for yourself. Dylan fans, folk devotees and students of popular culture will all find this an invaluable film. Highly recommended! (DJ Joe Sixpack)

To begin with--Joan Baez remains stunningly beautiful and as this DVD proves, with an intelligence and depth to match having always been a part of her allure. Her voice only needs to be acknowledged, b/c I honestly can't think of another carrier of song whose voice evokes such emotion from me. Saw her in Munich back in '78, but couldn't get her phone number.

But this is about Dylan, sorry! The breakdown for this DVD is that of getting to watch Dylan evolve from a relatively unknown talent with iconic tendencies into a wise meister who understands his gift (at least enough to challenge all existing boundaries), and has always been, larger than that of those who cling to him in the early stages of jettison.

This process, displayed through black and white period film, captures the young innocent (although he never really was, mind you, none of us are) on stage at Newport News for the first time, singing songs chosen by others, with Joan by his side, goddessing all the way. It's fabulous.

From there, the transition through three years up to the final electric, in your face (although it's significance has blurred down through the years) offering with Mike Bloomfield's bluesy electric leads--can't be ignored if you truly connect with the art and disillusionment.

The Folk movement wanted a cool and hip spokesman, needed one, in fact; and when Dylan outgrew them, simply didn't know what to do with the unleashed monster slinging poetic justice around on the stage. Peter Yarrow is reduced to pathetic whining (no offense, Sir, but you have to admit it's there), begging Dylan to come back and silence the crowd with an acoustic folk number from ages past.

It reminded me of Eastwood's film, "Unforgiven," and the notion that when Justice arrives, it is uncontrollable and nobody's friend. I highly recommend this DVD, especially if you're interested in how truly great artists used to have the freedom to develop during that brief period of time literally on the public stage.

There's almost nothing left to say this far down the road about the Minstrel from Minnesota. Other than this---he was, is, and likely will forever be, the greatest songwriter that modern America has proffered to the world. For all his stumbles, he is after all only a man, Dylan remains THE transformational figure in modern popular music. He is the bridge between the revolution begun by Elvis and taken across the universe by The Beatles.
This dvd, in glorious black and white, captures the earnestness and even more so the unrelenting brilliance of the 22/23/24 year old icon. His voice, though still raspy, is remarkably articulate though nowhere near as articulate as the words that come out of him. It may be marketed as a music dvd, but it is in fact an artifact of history. Amazingly, unlike most historical figures, this one is still current, still alive and still impossible to summarize in three paragraphs.
Could just as easily have been titled Portrait of The Young Man as An Artist---fascinating, engrossing, and well worth adding to any collection for those interested in His Bobness.
He is so much older now, he's younger than that here....

Okay, first off, this is way better than "Festival", which is surely terrific itself (particuarly Son House and Buffy Sainte-Marie). But this, a collection from all the Newport Folk Festival Dylan perfomances from his peak years, when he WAS the Greatest, is unbelievable.

Highlights are getting to actually SEE him doing Who Killed Davey Moore?; a thrilling Only A Pawn In Their Game (majestic phrasing); If You Gotta Go, Go Now, which besides being a great song, is one of those clips on here where you go: He's just a kid! A little Jewish boy, kinda small. HOW IN THE HELL DID HE WRITE THESE SONGS AT SUCH A YOUNG AGE?!!
You MUST ask yourself that. If you don't, you don't realize how unbelievable this guy was! His early material gives pause that maybe this is proof there is a God. And I'm an Athiest Jew!

Chimes of Freedom is chilling and heartwarming, man you gotta have this. The best version. One of his best songs.

And of course, the creme de la creme, Dylan's historic '65 performance.
Maggie's Farm, never one of my fave songs of his, is just incredible, with Mike Bloomfield playing the most insane guitar all over the place! It's hard to pick who he sounds like to me, I guess Mike Bloomfield! (reminds me of Link Wray at times??)
of course, the crowd reacts to this mind-blowingly FANTASTIC perfomance, as anyone naturally would: BOO! BOOOOOO!!!

and then Like A Rolling Stone; ah yes, what a perfect F--- You song, especially to play to the once-adoring masses. This version is of course unique amongst all live versions, for two reasons: 1st, the historic reason, they booed, unreal to us that they did, but most of them were in shock, they believed rock 'n' roll was the ultimate sell-out; they had lost THEIR Bobby. Who cares.
The performance is superb, venomous, with again what makes it unique: Bloomfield. I gotta something of him aside from what he did with Dylan.
(This version, played seemingly nonchantly after massive booing, is WAY more punk than anything the widdle sex pistols ever did!)

BUT, the masses get what they need, Dylan with an acoustic. Hooray, the cavalry came, the world is saved. So Dylan, with some notable tears, plays a version of Mr. Tambourine Man. They all cheer, HE's back. Then he follows up with a true goodbye, It's All Over Now, Baby Blue. Great version.
And there you have history right in front of you, to see and hear, really effin' cheap, and all the babies crying about "waah! this song was cut! my life is ruined!" -- IGNORE THEM!
This is a piece of genuine history that all Dylan fans should be damn grateful got released, and at this price, how can you complain?

I even enjoy some of the smaller moments, the intimacy of Joan and Bob together, so young, and she's so beautiful. Just a couple of kids.
With ONE having a muse that came from God-knows-where!

This is a must. Don't sit there wondering if it's worth buying, of COURSE it is! If you got the cash, buy it immediately! I'd gladly pay double what I paid! It's worth every penny.

Beautiful!

"The Other Side of the Mirror" is a brief look at an emerging artist as he developed over a three year period. The music is legendary, moving, and still relevant today. There are no interviews and the music speaks for itself. Although this film uses only the recorded performances from the Newport Folk Festivals of 1963, 1964, and 1965 of Bob Dylan and friends, it is about so much more than that. In the performances from 1963, we see Dylan as a skinny, intense boy, who is wholly consumed by his music, whether performing alone, with Joan Baez, or the cream of the folk music world at that time. By 1964, he is a star, clearly more comfortable with his audience and clearly enjoying his status. The now-infamous 1965 spots with the Hawks backing are prefaced by a performance in the afternoon which was hurried and in which the anticipation of the coming evening's performance was evident. Finally, we see Dylan as he "goes electric" and either completely wins over or totally angers his fan base. He ends the set with acoustic versions of "Mr. Tambourine Man," a song about the lure and magic of music, and "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue," his final kiss-off to the folk world. Many writers have commented on Dylan's attitude toward fans and/or the press, but after hearing people booing during 3 consecutive songs, the acoustic performances he gave were not just perfect but an act of generosity and an appeal for understanding. This film is filled with enduring music, performances of the highest caliber by Dylan and others, and a look back at a more hopeful time in our history.